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Archive-name: fusion-faq/glossary/intro
Last-modified: 2000/06/26 Posting-frequency: More-or-less-monthly Disclaimer: While this section is still evolving, it should be useful to many people, and I encourage you to distribute it to anyone who might be interested (and willing to help!!!). See reader questions & answers on this topic! - Help others by sharing your knowledge
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Glossary of Frequently Used Terms in
Plasma Physics and Fusion Energy Research
http://FusEdWeb.pppl.gov/Glossary/glossary.html
Edited by Robert F. Heeter, heeter1@llnl.gov
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### Contents:
* What is the Glossary, and where can I find it?
* What is included in the Glossary?
* What sources were used in compiling the Glossary?
### What is the Glossary, and where can I find it?
Plasma physics and fusion energy researchers have evolved
a colorful and extensive vocabulary. Although these specialized
terms greatly facilitate discussion among those who
understand the language, they can impede discussions
between experts and nonexperts, and even between experts in
different subfields. Several efforts have been made
over the years to break down these communication barriers
by providing clear and succinct definitions of key terms.
The Glossary of Frequently Used Terms in Plasma Physics
and Fusion Energy Research takes the next step and
uses modern information technology to provide the most extensive
*compilation* of plasma terminology from all available sources.
The full Glossary comprises several thousand terms, of which
over 1000 are fully defined and nearly all the others at least
direct the reader to reference texts. The full Glossary was
posted as ASCII text in 26 parts to the Newsgroups from 1994-1999.
After a 3-year hiatus from 1996-1999, the Glossary is now being
actively updated again. Since the Glossary is now being maintained
in database format and is fully available on the World Wide Web,
it no longer needs to be posted to the Newsgroups in its entirety.
However, in order to ensure that those interested in learning
about fusion energy and plasma physics have easy access to
the Glossary, this introduction now serves as a monthly pointer
to the full Glossary web site. The full Glossary may be found at
http://FusEdWeb.pppl.gov/Glossary/glossary.html
More information about the Glossary is given below.
### What is included in the Glossary?
The terms listed in the full Glossary include the scientific
vocabulary of the disciplines associated with plasma physics
and fusion energy research, the names of various research
facilities, experimental machines and devices used, the names
of prominent researchers in the field, the various funding
authorities active in the field, several key mathematical
symbols in common use, and the acronyms frequently used as
shorthand for some of the above.
This Glossary now covers all areas of plasma physics and
"conventional" fusion research, including magnetic confinement,
inertial confinement, thermonuclear, muon-catalyzed, and other
types of fusion, but not "Cold Fusion".
The Glossary began in 1994 with an initial list of terms
supplied by Jim Day. To this were added some comments
from various responses to the first draft posted to the newsgroup.
The Editor then incorporated terms from various published
glossaries from PPPL and the U.S. Department of Energy.
Acronyms, machine names, and names of important scientists
were added as they came up. Categories were added for research
and funding/political agencies, a broader base of basic science
terms was built up, and additional plasma terms were included.
In the summer of 1995 the Glossary benefitted from work done by
Joshua Jones and John Wright to expand the terminology lists by
merging in terms from the indexes of major plasma reference texts,
and to evolve a useful Web version with browse and search
capabilities.
### What Sources were used in compiling the Glossary?
The terms and definitions in the Glossary represent a collection
of contributions from numerous sources. The new Glossary database
includes the ability to have acknowledgements for each individual
definition, but for existing terms we must rely upon the blanket
acknowledgements given below. In cases where only a single textual
source was used a citation is generally given along with the entry.
A bibliography of source texts can be found at the Glossary Web Site,
http://FusEdWeb.pppl.gov/Glossary/glossary.html
# Acknowledgements for the Glossary:
! = someone I believe is a scientist
* = organizations or people who are not believed to be scientists.
! Jake Blanchard, blanchard@engr.wisc.edu - suggested we have a
list of acronyms too.
! Arthur Carlson, awc@ipp-garching.mpg.de - supplied additional
definitions, made corrections / amplifications / revisions to
earlier definitions.
! Edward Chao, ehchao@theory.pppl.gov - info on LANL fusion research,
additions and corrections to various definitions.
! Albert Chou, albert@seas.ucla.edu - supplied additional
definitions, made corrections / amplifications / revisions to
earlier definitions.
! John Cobb, johncobb@uts.cc.utexas.edu - lots o' definitions.
! James Crotinger, jac@gandalf.llnl.gov - additional definitions,
quality control, and comments on the usefulness of the FUT.
* Jim Day, jim.day@support.com - initial list of terms, additional
definitions, modifications to earlier definitions.
! Steve Fairfax, Fairfax@cmod.pfc.mit.edu - additional definitions
from the Alcator weekly reports.
* Robin Herman, _Fusion: Search for Endless Energy_; I borrowed a
few terms from her glossary. Cited as (from Herman). (Many
of these terms derived from the PPPL glossary I also used.)
! Paul M. Koloc, pmk@prometheus.UUCP - quality control, some entries
! Emilio Martines, martines@pdigi3.igi.pd.cnr.it - quality control,
reversed-field entries & information.
! Robert Nachtrieb, nachtrieb@pfc.mit.edu - numerous acronyms
* Princeton Plasma Physics Lab, Glossary of Fusion Terms - list of
terms prepared by PPPL staff at some point. Consulted in many
cases, blatantly paraphrased in some, quoted and cited in
others.
* Vicki Rosenzweig, vr%acmcr.uucp@murphy.com - Proofreading entries
* Mike Ross, mikeross@almaden.ibm.com - additional Livermore info
and corrections to some entries.
* Richard Schroeppel, rcs@cs.arizona.edu - suggestions/corrections to
many definitions.
! Philip Snyder, pbsnyder@theory.pppl.gov - corrections to
definitions.
! Paul Stek, Stek@cmod.pfc.mit.edu - additional definitions
!? Mitchell Swarz, mica@world.std.com - supplied additional
definitions / corrections and revisions to existing definitions.
### Status and Disclaimers:
Like fusion research itself, the Glossary is evolving,
and is not a completed work. Depending on how much effort is
being expended to maintain it at any given time, it may not be
correct or up-to-date in all respects. The editor disclaims
everything and assumes no liability for any consequences arising
from the distribution of this Glossary. The information included
in the Glossary reflects the perspective of the editor and
contributors, and not their employers or anyone else.
Finally, the Glossary is copyrighted and should not be distributed
for profit without permission.
### Technicalities:
# This is a Copyrighted FAQ. I only grant permission for this file
to be freely distributed and cited provided the revision date is
retained and I am cited as the editor. #
# Any and all errors are solely my responsibility. #
# This posting is tagged as UCRL-MI-139257 by LLNL.
"This work was performed under the auspices of the
U.S. Department of Energy by University of California Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory under contract No. W-7405-Eng-48."
#######################
Robert F. Heeter, Ph.D.
heeter1@llnl.gov
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Robert F. Heeter (Bob)
Lawrence Livermore National Lab, Building 121, Room 1109
Phone: 925-423-3761
Fax: 925-423-5998
US Mail: P.O. Box 808, L-043; Livermore, CA 94550
Shipping: 7000 East Ave.; Livermore, CA 94550-9234
User Contributions:
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